SAN DIEGO,CA-It was an evening to remember and cherish for an audience of more than 120 as they soaked in every word of advice given by Dr. Pradeep K. Khosla, Chancellor of University of California San Diego (UCSD), who delivered the 32nd Mahatma Gandhi memorial lecture on July 31 here at UCSD. As the chief executive officer, Dr. Khosla leads a campus with more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

He spent most of his career at Carnegie Mellon University rising through the ranks from Assistant Professor in 1986, to become the current Chancellor at UCSD in 2012. Dr. Madhavan,Founder of San Diego Indian-American Society (SDIAS) began the evening with welcoming remarks.Dr. Inder Verma, SDIAS President and Distinguished Professor at SALK Institute, gave the introductory remarks. In his keynote address, Dr. Khosla mentioned the importance of Gandhi and how he stuck to his ideals and principels from a very young age which empowered him to lead his nation. Following the lecture, Dr. Ramesh Rao, Qualcomm Institute Director, UCSD, presided over the merit scholarship awards of $1,000 each and a Congressional certificate, presented to 13 students. These students were selected based on their scholastic excellence, leadership qualities and passion for giving back to their community. In addition, each student was required to write an essay on “Nonviolent Means for Conflict Resolution”. Kahlo Baniadam, whose writing impressed the judges, was chosen to read his essay to the audience. Baniadam’s father B. Baniadam had also received the same award in 1985. It was a very somber essay as Baniadam recounted how a San Diegan facing a personal tragedy in his life used Gandhi’s philosophy not only to recover and rebound but also give back to society by starting a foundation in his son’s name. The underlying message resonated well with the audience. Another group of eight students belonging to the Advancement Via Individual Determination program were given AVID scholarship awards.Hema Lall was emcee during this award presentation and did an excellent job of presenting each student’s credentials succinctly. These students were given a four year, $1,000 per year scholarship and a Congressional certificate. They were selected based on their excellent academic credentials, recommendations and having overcome many personal challenges in their lives. For example, many of them are first in their family to attend college; few students have parents with income levels below the poverty line, among others. This year’s Mahatma Gandhi and AVID scholars are planning to attend several prestigious universities in the fall such as Stanford, University of Chicago, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and UCSD.In his closing remarks, Dr. Rao spoke eloquently about the work being done in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department and invited the audience to visit the labs to learn about the cutting edge research performed there. He also took the opportunity to pay glowing tributes to India’s former President Abdul Kalam and reminisced with a short video recorded a few years ago, which revealed how Dr. Kalam encouraged collaboration between Indian Universities and UCs to create a win-win situation for both. Following are the winners of Mahatma Gandhi awards: Anjana Srinivas, Yashes Srinivasan, Keshav Tadimeti, Lena Nicole Antoine, Kahlo Baniadam, Celine Calpo, Emily Davies, Ben Friedl, David Mendoza, Nikhil Palanki, Anh-Dao Tong, Erik Whitney, and Carolyn Callen. The winners of the AVID awards are: Jacqueline Canseco Garcia, Jacqueline Meza Tapia, Chrestina Mansoor, Tiffany McLemore, Rosalinda Perez, Heraldo Martinez, Empress El Aton, and Aracely Zerferino. (report by Meghana Reddy)